Two Pelham teens accused of making explosive device

PELHAM - Two local teenagers are facing multiple charges after a soda bottle they had filled with chemicals and hoped would explode was found in the woods over the weekend.

On Sunday morning, a Frontier Drive resident was walking his dog behind his house when he saw a Canada Dry soda bottle in the woods, according to police Lt. Brian McCarthy. The bottle appeared to have a chemical substance in it along with metal fragments.The resident put the bottle in a five-gallon bucket and brought it to his residence, notifying the Pelham police and fire departments.

Police officers arrived shortly before 11 a.m. on Sunday and after seeing the substance in the soda bottle, they evacuated the area and called in the Nashua bomb squad, according to McCarthy.The bomb squad safely destroyed the homemade explosive.

Pelham police investigated the incident and confirmed that Jack Harrington and Aiden Walsh, both 17 and from Pelham, were allegedly experimenting in Harrington's back yard with the homemade explosive, according to McCarthy. The teenagers allegedly combined toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil into a soda bottle in the hopes that it would explode.When the bottle did not blow up as they expected, police said, the teens threw it into the woods in the back of the Frontier Road residence.

Harrington and Walsh voluntarily turned themselves in on arrest warrants on Monday. They were both charged with possession of explosives, disorderly conduct and false public alarm.They were released on $1,000 personal recognizance bail and are scheduled to appear for arraignment in Salem District Court on May 5.